The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) says it has perfected plans to disrupt the forthcoming general elections if the Federal government and the leadership of Academic Staff Union of Universities fail to resolve all impending labour crisis and suspend the ongoing industrial action.
In an exclusive interview with Vanguard, NANS President, Comrade Danielson Bamidele Akpan said the industrial action by ASUU and ASUP has not only hindered their academic pursuits, but has also disenfranchised about 22.3million students who had registered at the INEC offices nearest to their institutions.
‘’The continuous strike action by both ASUU and ASUP has not only brought increased pain on students and their parents, it is now seen by us as a deliberate ploy to disenfranchise our members, especially those who registered within their school environments and are presently in their various homes.
“Consequently, Nigerian students have decided to take their destinies in their hands, enough of the politics being played with our future. We wish to inform the general public that Nigerian students would resist any election from holding in any part of the country should our campuses remain shut till election date."
He said the students are citizens of Nigeria “and on no account shall we allow this sinister disenfranchisement of the largest voting population of our citizens in a major election to pass due to no fault of theirs. We have 22.3 million registered students, eligible to change the destiny of the nation. We refused to be sacrificed in exercising this obligatory duty to our nation at this crucial moment. Our voices must be heard and our votes must count.”
“After careful observation of the continued insensitive shut down of our universities due to the strike action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities and the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics wish to unapologetically declare Operation no resumption, no election."
